I set down my drink and look to the side, sitting in an outdoor dining room at a cheap restaurant.

“Still can’t believe Tetsudo actually exist. It’s like the shit your momma reads to you as a child. Just straight magic.” I say, I was a couple drinks in and getting a bit tipsy.

“I fucking know; I mean, of course I knew that it existed being a part of history, but seeing it in person was something else. Shit, do y’all think their offspring could be freaky as well?” A friend says.

“Nah, I think people tried that in the previous generations, but something about the teleportation process made them infertile or something.” I respond.

“Don’t be creepy, look at how young they were, too early to be talking about that kind of stuff.” Another friend sitting with us scowls, he avidly avoided drinking and often took care of us when we got too drunk.

“Man you’re the one who’s making it weird. I’m just saying what if Tetsudo suddenly begins popping up everywhere? A part of our society? What would happen?” The other tipsy friend says.

“Probably nothing in your life-time mate, besides what would change for you? Still gonna be hauling fish from the river back and forth for the rest of your life, hahahahaha!”

“Man—“ I drunkenly swipe at my sober friend, then turn back to my drink. It was interesting though, what would life be like with Tetsu in it?… What if there was a way to use it for ourselves?

I reach out for my drink but a black shadow suddenly flashes across my vision. A sudden gust of wind slaps my face and I hear an angry scream to my right. Some fool had spilled their drink and got a woman drenched in beer.

I grab my drink, but grasp on empty air. Hmm? Wait, where's my beer? Wait what? I look closely at the fallen mug. Huh? That was my drink?

Taiga

I watch as a mug full of beer sails through the air. The edge of my cloak had caught on to someone's cup.

…

I turn back and continue to run in the direction of the noise, contemplating whether I should keep it or not. I took one basically as a habit at this point. I found the extra pockets and visual cover incredibly useful, but this place wasn’t New York. It could become a liability.

I suddenly come to a stop after a haunting cry rings through the air, close enough that I can hear it without Anku now. It was unmistakably Avery’s voice. “Fuck, did they get there before me?”

I turn right and unsheathe my sword, the first time I’ve ever wielded one since training with Rudeus. It was quite short, a little longer than the length of a dagger, but it was much lighter. Which means I need to emphasize speed, I miss out on a longer reach. The weight feels a little off center, I readjust my grip a centimeter down handle. I should start off fast, give no chance for them to adapt, start off with instinctual movements and see if it pays off.

All unnecessary thoughts flood away from my mind as I prepare it for battle.

I turn a right corner, running down a narrow alleyway.

Down a deserted street, five buildings down, across a small garden, through the window of a small home, destroying furniture along the way, flipping through a second window, emerging onto the street, sliding across the wet mud, shards of ice cracking underneath my boot.

I blink a couple of times at the scene before me. There were three bodies, all men, two of them with ice sticking out of their skin. Avery lies on the ground shaking heavily, an unknown woman grabbing one of the bodies by the throat.

Who is my enemy here?… No it doesn’t matter.

Avery’s eyes widen upon watching me crash into the street. “Taiga!? Why does your mask? Whoa—!” I grab her by the edge of her shirt and haul her over my back. “No wait!”

Shaz’s warnings run through my mind. You piece of shit, you knew what could potentially happen, yet kept her in the city anyways.

Avery tries to wiggle out of my grasp, but I hold on tightly. “Stop it! What are you doing?!” I wobble to the side as she teeters me off balance.

“No! Saen is still alive!”

“Who?”

“The one on the ground with the woman!”

“What? There was ice— I thought you were the one— You weren’t fighting him?”

“No he was… Just go back! I’ll explain everything later!”

I slow down a bit, then continue running. “No, it doesn’t matter who he is, we have to go.”

Avery then goes quiet. “I’m not going to do this again, sorry about this in advance.” Avery says in a low voice.

A bomb of water violently surges from behind my back, I immediately am pushed off balance and trip forward. “No! You fucking~” I gargle a mouthful of water as I tumble forward over my head. My waterlogged cloak wraps around my head tightly, blinding me and practically drowning me.

I roll disoriented for a couple seconds before Anku surges into my arms and I push downward as hard as I can, completely overpowering the current and launching into the air. I look down to see wooden stands, chairs, stone and debris, and even a couple of unfortunate bystanders all wash down the street in a river of garbage as I float above midair.

Overlooking the destruction, What the hell is she doing? This is not like her at all! I quickly look around and then whip my sword to a nearby rooftop, pulling myself midair to the shingles. I had made sure to root my sword in my Anku beforehand. I look around for a couple of seconds, quickly spotting Avery gliding through the streets leaving behind a spray of water. And… A second hostile presence rapidly approaching our location, making no attempt to conceal their intent.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

I immediately bounce off the rooftops and tear across the tiles, discarding my cloak in the process.

Avery turns in slow motion as I soar through the air and skid right past her, focused on a dark alleyway to her right. I bring up my sword and slice upwards, without even having seen anyone yet.

Clang! Sparks fly through the air as a young woman flies out of the alleyway swinging her sword downwards, not the same one from before, she looked a bit younger. Wait, have I seen her before?

“Ah! You’re that guy!” The girl exclaims as she suddenly switches grips and flicks a slice upwards with speeds even faster than Celestia.

My senses heighten for a split second as I watch her blade come upwards in slow motion. This is a feint, she’s trying to gauge my speed.

I step into her blade, wedging my foot below her legs, not respecting her threat at all.

As expected she pulls her sword back and steps away, clearly not expecting that response.

Okay, now that I’ve set the tone… I grip my sword tightly.

The alleyway way lights up with an amber glow as the two of us clash rapidly. Metal shavings accumulate on the ground as our swords wear down in just a couple seconds. Avery rushes past behind my back, soaking the two of us in water as she does.

I swing hard enough to make her stumble, forcing her back into the alleyway. Without wasting a moment, I turn around to chase after Avery. This girl is way too tough to focus on right now, I can’t waste any more of my strength or time on her.

“Wait!” The girl sprints after me, right on my tail, unbelievably fast as expected.

Even if she was faster than me, I could easily lose her in a big city like this if I wanted to, but that’ll be impossible to pull off if I also want to get to Avery before she flings herself back into danger.

Then…

Yumie

I tense myself as the masked boy swings around, sword arm below his left waist. Zing! I lunge forward and the two of our swords clash from below his right waist.

As with any swordsman worth a dime, he was ambidextrous and could quickly switch hands naturally but…

But how? I’ve only come into his field of view a moment ago, I even made sure to avoid any leading motions, yet he still…

Hmph, lucky prediction.

I use the bounce-off momentum and spin around, Bang! Another parry from his left shoulder.

Lean in for a thrust, feint into a left roundhouse kick. Just kidding, it’s the thrust.

I feel a swoosh and come up empty. He dodged it, in fact he’d completely disappeared from my senses.

Why? No matter what I do, I can’t get past his defense at all even to graze him, but he hasn’t given any sizable offensive threat either.

I feel a chill run down my spine and swing my sword behind my back, contacting metal to metal. I turn around to find him already up my face.

Without given time to think, I block a side slash, dangerously close to my neck, in fact I felt tiny stings from the sparks hitting my cheek.

Wait, was he trying not to kill me before?

I hop backwards out of a primal instinct, trying to get the slightest moment to breath, there are two people I know to be able to beat me in a fight, but right it felt like I was facing a certain one of those two people.

The two of our swords shatter as he swings hard enough to break the alloy.

The markings on his mask… They’re disappearing faster now. Actually, were those even there when I last saw him?

I hop backwards again, now becoming a more and more appealing option, my eyes dilate however, as he predicts it and follows my step forward.

Wait don’t—

Blood sprays into the space above, coating the walls around and sky above. I fall backwards, hitting my head against the cold hard ground.

Avery

I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. I run and run and run, nothing makes sense. I no longer cared who saw me use my Tetsu, who got hurt by my Tetsu.

I come back to the empty street, with a trail of blood leading back to the inn. I slow down to a walk and look down, ragged breaths coming in and out in waves.

Where are…? Are they inside? I walk, slowly and meaningfully.

The trail climbs up the steps, I walk up, imprinting footsteps against the blood, leading all the way back into the room where Saen’s mother was comatose in.

I open the door and peak inside…

Saen sat, slumped over on a rickety wooden chair while Janit was cross-legged on the floor, head buried in her knees.

“Here to finish me off?” She groans weakly.

“Saen, is… is he still alive?”

“I dunno, leave me alone will ya?” She says, slightly slurring her words. Her skin was deathly pale, arms, hands, fingertips all drooped over.

“Ar- are you okay?” I ask cautiously, letting a subtle vapor flow out of my hands.

“No… Thanks for your concern though.”

She grows quiet.

“You have a brother, a sister?” She then asks in a softer tone.

“…” I don’t know how to respond, just a minute ago she was fighting like a savage, and now she was talking like nothing happened.

“No good huh?” She looks away. “Well then, I probably won’t be able to cause trouble anymore, so just leave me be.”

“Yes, I have a couple siblings.” For some reason I knew she was telling the truth.

“Ah, what are they like?”

“Annoying, kinda strange, but still endearing.” I speak candidly. ”Honestly, I want to see them again.” I glimpse at Saen, I have to get him some help right now if he might still be alive.

Janit chuckles, “You are really not built for this huh?” She takes a big sigh and stares at the ground.

”This is really how it all ends, the three of us… Back together in the same old place.” She mumbles to herself.

She looks up. “I’m going to die in a couple minutes, because of the Anku drive I took, my inner Anku is rapidly destroying itself.” She stares into my eyes. “A lot of dangerous people are converging onto this location, so if you don’t want to get caught up in all of this then leave now.”

“But…” I take another look at Saen, then back at her.

”What are you looking at me for? If you want to try to save him I can’t do shit, look at me.” Janit smiles and then closes her eyes.

“Leave me alone now.” She mumbles before a whistling noise comes from outside. The window shatters. Taiga rolls into the room covered in glass.

“Avery, we have to leave NOW.” He then pauses to take a look at the three bodies sprawled out, watching me as I lightly sob.

He then gently kneels down and firmly clasps my hands.

“Calm down. We’ll get our revenge soon. I’m strong, especially right now. Trust me.”

“The man lying over there, he might still be alive, can you take him with you?”

”Okay, I will, but I have to get you to safety first, then I’ll come back for him.” He grabs my arm. “Please don’t argue with me and waste any more time. Things are really messed up right now.”

“… Okay.” I say, resigning myself to him. Without wasting a beat, Taiga slings me over his shoulder and launches out into the streets of Oliviand.

What a wasted life. The young woman thought to herself in her final moments.

Yumie

I slowly lift my head out of the pool of blood, newly formed scar tissue around my neck, blood slowly dripping from my hair.

“Can’t really tell if he missed on purpose or if I got lucky.” I say to myself. I couldn’t say I wasn’t shaken after the beating I just received. I didn’t think there was anyone still alive other than my sister that could move like that.

“What the?! She’s alive!”

I look around to see a crowd that had formed around me, after seeing a young girl bleeding out on the street.

“Did any of you happen to see someone with a white mask come by?” I try asking to confused glances.

“Yes, I would like to know the answer to that question myself.” An unfamiliar man pops out of nowhere, clutching his head as if he was in pain.

“Is that Doctor Huley?” One of the bystanders exclaims.

Dr. Huley? I glance curiously at him.

People around us clamor in surprise and excitement upon hearing his name.

“I have a daughter who’s sick, please I can pay as much—“

“Doctor please!”

A fake smile appears onto his face as he looks around the crowd. “I’m terribly sorry, but I cannot meet any requests tonight, I remember all your faces however, so if you need an appointment with me in the future I would happily oblige.”

He then turns to me and grabs my arm, leading the two of us out of the crowd.

“He can even beat you?” He mutters under his breath.

”What happened? You know that kid? And who even are you in the first place?” I put a little distance between the two of us, unsure of what he was doing.

“Who I am isn’t important right now.” He begins jogging, beckoning me to follow behind.

“You aren’t leading me anywhere until you tell me what’s going on.” I put my hands on my hips, mildly annoyed.

Yeluh, takes a capsule out of his pocket and hands it to me. It was translucent, full of some red fluid… Blood.

“I will give you the power to kill a drifter.”